October 9th is PANDAS/PANS Awareness Day. In a nutshell PANDAS is an autoimmune disorder that a child can develop after a bout of strep when the childs antibodies attack the brain rather then the infection. It can also be caused by Lymes, pneumonia, coxsackie and mono--its called PANS in those cases. Scary stuff. Symptoms include SUDDEN onset of anxiety, OCD, tics, Tourettes and rage. It looks like mental illness but its not--its a medical illness but is often wrongly diagnosed. The more people who know about it, the better chance a child who has it will be diagnosed correctly. The longer a child has it, the harder it is to get rid of it. Please share, especially with friends and family who have children, who are teachers, school nurses, school counsellors and anyone you know who comes across kids, especially those younger then 13. Happy PANDAS/PANS Awareness Day! Pandasnetwork.org
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 02:05:21 +0000